


so no one told you life was gonna be this way

by Sweetcheeksandbabycakes



Series: friends au [1]
Category: Friends (TV), One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Friends AU, M/M, Marriage Proposal, No Smut, based off of s10ep05, harry/louis as phoebe/mike, im sorry i couldnt resist, liam/sophia as chandler/monica, um, well three marriage proposals, what else
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-19
Updated: 2016-08-19
Packaged: 2018-08-09 19:51:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7814857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sweetcheeksandbabycakes/pseuds/Sweetcheeksandbabycakes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The self-indulgent friends au with Harry as phoebe and Louis as Mike, where Louis attempts to propose multiple times but Harry just won't let him. Featuring, Liam and Sophia and Monica and Chandler who are just trying to help, and Niall as Joey who's always in the background, eating.</p>
            </blockquote>





	so no one told you life was gonna be this way

**Author's Note:**

> Helloo, i just want to start by saying i do not have a clue what this is, it wasnt requested and it is purely self indulgent because friends is the greatest tv show of all time, and there needs to be more aus.  
> this is (hopefully) part of a series of seperate friends au's based on different episodes and they probably won't follow on, so for example the next fic might be ross/rachel instead of phoebe/mike  
> i hope you enjoy this, once again let me know if there's any mistakes or anything and i'll change them :)  
> [also for the second proposal i had to kind of wing it being as in the ep they made jokes about the woman 'wearing the pants' so i couldnt do that obviously being as theyre two men, so just bare with me there :) ]  
> thanks for reading! 
> 
> Episode inspiration link: http://www.watchseries.ac/episode/friends_s10_e5.html (so good watch it!)

"What do you mean you've had a bloody engagement ring in your pocket for two months?" Liam's baffled voice rang out over the quaint little tea shop.

"It's not my fault! I tried on his birthday but I was so nervous that I kept filling up our wine glasses, and before I'd realised we'd managed to drink three bottles and were unconcious on the kitchen floor."

"That was only a couple of weeks ago! How have you had it for two months?"

"I like to be prepared. And besides, what if he says no?"

Liam rolled his eyes. "Louis, mate. You and Harry have been together for two years, and you're literally never apart. You're so gone for him mate - and him for you - that if he says no I'll give you fifty quid."

Louis leant back into the worn brown leather sofa at the back of the shop, the same one they sat on every time they visited, and sipped his tea looking at Liam skeptically. "I don't know Li, what if he just wants to stay as we are? Just because you married a wedding addict doesn't mean I'm going to." That received a swift kick to Louis' skinny jean clad shin. " _Ow_ , I was just saying mate, you can't deny it's true."

Liam pursed his lips and looked pointedly at Louis' bag, where a little black box was hidden in one of the inner pockets. Louis sighed.

"Fine. I'll do it on our anniversary, we're going to that footie game remember? That gives me three days to psyche myself up and call the stadium, if I'm gonna do it I might as well do it big." He drained the last dregs of his tea and ignored Liam's raised eyebrows, standing up and pulling his bag on his shoulders. He gave a bewildered Liam a pat on the shoulder and wiggled his phone out of his pocket, immediately googling contact details for the stadium as he exited.

Before he left into the bitter March air - spring hadn't quite descended over London yet - he called over his shoulder to Liam, "better start saving that fifty quid!"

Liam just rolled his eyes.

 

***

   
"Honey I'm home!" Harry called, toeing off his boots and dropping his keys into the bowl. It was green and misshapen, a quirky little thing Harry'd found in a charity shop and couldn't leave without, and of course Louis agreed, he couldn't not.

Louis popped his head out from the kitchen, grinning brightly when he saw his boyfriend dressed in a problem-pattern flowy shirt and tight skinny jeans, each finger not without a ring, which made Louis grin more when he realised he'd have one more to add to his collection on Thursday. Three days. 

Harry smiled when he noticed that Louis was clad in Harry's pink frilly apron and wielding a wooden spoon, barefoot and topless, with just raggy old joggers on his bottom half. 

"You look lovely," Harry grinned, bending down slightly to kiss Louis' cheek. Louis looked at Harry exasperatedly and whacked him on the bum with his wooden spoon.

"Shut up you and sit down. I'm making you dinner." At Harry's lack of movement he swatted him with the spoon again, making Harry laugh and hurry out of the room.

Louis heard the creek of the old sofa - another one of Harry's charity shop finds - as Harry flopped down on it, and the opening theme to a terrible soap opera blared through the television speakers, which quickly ceased with an angry press of the power button and was followed by Harry's grumbling about _'shitty evening telly, what the fuck'._

Louis shook his head and turned back to the hob, steam rising and circling over various pans full of vegetables, a tray with two chicken breasts settled nicely in the oven. The bisto gravy (he wasn't Gordon bloody Ramsey, he couldn't make everything) was set to one side ready to heat up later, and, according to Louis' professional opinion, everything was perfect.

He took the tea towel from his shoulder (he's seen Jamie Oliver do it on tv, he doesn't really know what use it has) and hooked it through the oven door handle, then turned around and headed toward the living room where Harry was sat scrolling mindlessly through his phone. He kicked Harry's feet lightly and sat next to him, pulling his raised feet into his lap so he was still spread out. The sofa groaned and huffed slightly under the added weight, making Louis wiggle and bounce a bit for it to do it again. The sooner that thing was broken and gone, the better. 

Harry gave Louis a look saying: _'I know what you're doing'_ without actually having to say it at all. Louis just shot Harry a cheeky smile and grabbed the remote, flicking back to the soap opera that Harry had turned off beforehand. Harry just sighed.

The television was the only source of light in the small living room, the antique oil lamp on the fireplace had lost its use years ago (this time not a charity shop find, a hand-me-down from Harry's grandfather instead), and the Ikea lamp sat on the coffee table in the corner of the room, too far away to leave the comfortable sofa and turn on. The flat was filled with a mixture of unique antiques and one of a kind pieces, and modern chain-store items, perfectly representative of both Harry and Louis' different personalities. 

There was a keyboard in their 'work room' (a spare bedroom they'd converted to accommodate for their jobs) to satisfy Louis' 'piano playing needs' (his words), with a massage table opposite for when Harry has home clients. The keyboard was an excuse for Louis to believe it was his full time job, rather than the truth of the matter being he had a gig every three or so months, meaning the two had to live off of Harry's small but comfortable masseuse salary. They were no Liam and Sophia, one working an office job with a more than comfortable pay cheque, and one working as a chef in one of London's most prestigious restaurants; but they were happy and they had a home and food, which is all that matters in their eyes.

The oven beeped, signalling the chicken was finished, making Harry whisper a quiet 'thank God'  at the end of the soap opera, Louis chuckling and Harry's aversion to mainstream television. He chucked Harry's feet from his lap and headed to the kitchen, the scent of mozzarella and ham drifting from the open door and filling his nose. 

He quickly plated up the chicken, mash and vegetables, and heated the gravy up in the microwave, placing everything on the table with a flourish. Harry sat with raised eyebrows at the impressive meal laid before him, making Louis grin with pride. 

"Chicken stuffed with mozzarella, wrapped in parma ham with a side of homemade mash. You're welcome."

"Looks good Lou, but since when could you cook?" Harry asked with a grin.

"Since I had that one night stand with Jamie Oliver, a couple of weeks ago actually. He told me all of his secrets in return for other favours," Louis wiggled his eyebrows. 

Harry rolled his eyes and stabbed a baby carrot pointedly, making Louis' grin fade slightly and pick up his cutlery with apprehension. Harry just smiled.

They carried on for the rest of dinner; sipping wine and cracking jokes (one of which made the cheap merlot come out of Harry's nose, that was a sight to behold). 

Overall dinner was a success, and Louis smiled to himself whilst washing the pots, he'd got this romance thing down. He was gonna marry Harry so hard, he won't realise what's hit him.

 

***

 

Three days later and Louis was less confident. The day after the romantic dinner they rowed over [a small rat family](http://www.watchseries.ac/episode/friends_s9_e12.html) they'd found in the kitchen cupboards (they were not friendly creatures who just needed a home, no matter how many times Harry insisted it), so now Louis was the bad guy. 

Harry still wasn't talking properly to him, more than the day before but not as much as usual, which put a dampner on the whole proposal thing. Still, Louis wouldn't allow something as small as a homeless rat family to stop him from marrying his boy, he'd waited long enough and goddammit he was gonna do it if it killed him.

The pair walked hand in hand to the stadium, walking as opposed to taking the tube as Harry hadn't been payed yet, Harry dressed to the nines in a colourful paisley shirt and expensive black jeans, way too overdressed for a football match but too happy to care. Despite him still being a little mad at Louis, it was their anniversary so he was going to forget about the poor rats and enjoy himself. 

Louis however, was a jittery mess. The box was wearing a hole in his jacket pocket (the pocket away from Harry, he wasn't going to blow his cover by digging the bloody box in Harry's arm), and his hands were shaking slightly. He may have had it together and himself composed earlier in the week, but now the day was here he felt suddenly unprepared. The stadium had been alerted of his plans, and he had forty five minutes to compose himself before half time, before he'll bloody propose. He was going to ask Harry to marry him. 

"Louis are you okay? You look a little pale," Harry fussed.

Louis grinned weakly, "I'm fine, just excited. Not very often you get to watch your home team play on your two year anniversary." Yeah, that sounded better than _"No I'm possibly about to shit myself then pass out because I'm planning on proposing to you."_

Harry smiled at him and squeezed his hand, obviously satisfied by his answer and not saying anything about his clammy palms. Jesus Christ, he was going to die. 

They queued and entered the stadium in what seemed like a blur, Harry chattering away next to him, his clammy hand still held tightly in Harry's larger one, his rings digging into him but he didn't care, found it quite comforting actually. He held his hand all the way to their seats, Louis silently thanking him in his head for the comfort.

"Lou? Want a pint?" Harry's face suddenly appeared in his vision, all smiley and happy and lovely. God, what was he even worried about? He loved this man, that man loved him, and they were going to get married. _They were going to get married._

Louis smiled up at him dopily, patting his arm and nodding. Harry just laughed, and went off towards the direction of the bar, leaving Louis sat in his seat and his leg jiggling with impatience - not nerves this time - willing half time to hurry up.

He shot a quick text to Liam, warning him to get his fity pounds ready because he was gonna do it. Liam just replied with a rolling eye emoji and a thumbs up. Louis grinned and pocketed his phone, noticing the match was about to start soon so he began looking for Harry. He saw him at the bottom of the steps, a plastic pint glass in each hand, brows furrowed trying to fight his way through the crowd to get to his seat.

After a small struggle, Harry plopped down in his seat, handing Louis his pint and letting out a sigh.

"Bloody nightmare that was, don't know what was going off. No matter how many times I said 'excuse me, it's my anniversary', they still wouldn't move. How rude is that?" Harry asked with a huff. 

Louis smiled fondly, patting Harry's hand and turning to the field, where the players had begun to warm up. 

"Attention! Ladies and Gentlemen, please turn your attention to the big screen, someone has a special question to ask!" A male voice filled the stadium over the tannoy, and Louis nearly shit his pants.

Before Louis could launch himself off of the balcony, the camera view panned around to a man and woman, the man knelt on one knee and the woman sat in her seat, clutching her chest in astonishment. She nodded frantically at something the man had said, and a large diamond band was slipped onto her finger to the sound of the crowd's applause. 

Louis joined in with the stadium's clapping, breathing out a small smile of relief when he realised it wasn't his turn.

Harry leaned in towards him, and whispered something that made Louis' stomach drop and face pale.

"God, that's got to be the worst way to propose. It's so tacky and impersonal, you've got everyone gawking at you. Don't you think Lou?"

Louis nodded shakily, and rose to his feet, bolting down the stairs and calling to Harry that he needed the toilet, running in the complete opposite direction from the loos and towards the tech room where they control the big screen. 

Well shit.

 

***

 

That evening, Harry flopped down on Liam and Sophia's sofa with his head in his hands.

"I think I've just had the worst anniversary ever."

"I doubt that.  Remember last year Liam?" Sophia asked with a glare. Liam shrugged sheepishly. "I bought Liam a five hundred pound watch, and he wrote me a rap song."

"Seriously?" Niall asked from the chair in the corner, letting out a loud cackle. "Mate that's hilarious." His laughter quickly ceased at the daggers Sophia was shooting at him.

Harry looked at them all and shook his head. "You don't understand, Louis tried to propose!"

Niall gasped, Sophia looked confused and Liam just carried on putting away their groceries unfazed.

"What's so terrible about that? Congratulations!" Niall leapt up to embrace Harry.

"Notice I said _tried_. He was going to do it on the big screen at the game-"

"That is so tacky," Sophia cut in. "Totally impersonal."

"That's what I said! Another couple did it at the start, so I said exactly what you just said and he just ran. I feel so guilty," Harry groaned, flinging himself backwards so he was lying across the settee.

Sophia began patting his head. "Do you want to marry him?"

"Well of course I do!" Harry said incredulously. "I never said no, I wouldn't have said no, I don't care how he asks me!"

"Well then, why don't you ask him?" She asked, still patting his head soothingly. Niall was now sat at his feet, munching on a bag of crisps despite Sophia's earlier protests of crumbs on the carpet.

"Do you think he'd mind?" At that, Liam laughed startling them all.

"You're both as bad as each other! He was so bloody paranoid, "What if he says no Liam?" "Liam I'm so nervous!" You're bloody nightmares! Just ask him already!"

The other three in the room fish mouthed at his outburst.

"You knew?!" Sophia asked, shocked. "Why didn't you tell me?" 

"Because you would've told Harry. No Soph, don't look at me like that you know you would have," Liam replied after Sophia gave him an offended look.

"Stop bickering and help me! How should I do it?" Harry asked, voice full of apprehension and nerves. Liam sighed, and muttered something into the carrier bags about how _it's not like he was just almost proposed to or anything._

"How about at a match on the big screen?" 

Harry looked at her quizzically.

"He obviously thinks it's a good way to be proposed to, so why don't you do it for him?"

Harry lit up. "You know Soph, you're not as daft as you look."

She just hit him with a pillow in retaliation.

 

***

 

They'd alerted the stadium of the plans for the next match in four days time and booked the tickets before Harry headed off home, not before he gave all three of them a hug and a big thank you. Sophia just smacked him lightly and told him not to be so silly, whilst Niall offered him a crisp.

He walked to the flat a couple of streets over with a spring in his step, and opened the door with a cheery "Hi Lou!"

Louis stuck his head out of the door of their work room with a wave then disappeared back into the room, before the soft sound of the piano drifted around the apartment. Harry smiled and headed towards him, realising they won't be talking about the day's earlier incident. That'll make Sunday more of a surprise.

They spent the rest of the evening singing badly and out of tune to a variety of songs, the rat incident and the disaster from earlier in the day totally forgotten.

 

***

 

Unfortunately, Sunday came quicker than Harry wanted, and before he realised it he was sat in the uncomfortable plastic chairs lining the stadium, nursing a pint and five thousand thoughts running through his head, 'What if he says no?'  being about four thousand of them.

He didn't have a ring or a speech prepared, he was so worried about the possible outcomes the only thing he'd planned was his escape route out of the stadium in case it all went wrong.

Louis seemed to be having the time of his life though, cheering and hollering everytime Donny came close to scoring, nudging Harry after every goal.

"Wasn't that good? They're doing so well!" Louis said excitedly at half time.

Harry smiled weakly at his enthusiasm. "Aren't they? Wait, what are you doing?" He asked with alarm when he saw Louis beginning to get up.

"Going for a pee? It's half time I don't want to miss the rest of the match." Harry tugged him back down into his seat.

"No, you don't want to do that!"

"Why not? I really gotta go," Louis said with a laugh.

"Um, because if you go straight away you won't be able to get all of the nutrients."

Louis looked at Harry like he'd grown a second head.

"Attention! Ladies and Gentlemen, please turn your attention to the big screen, someone has a special question to ask!" 

Harry grinned and pulled Louis back into his seat, dropping down to one knee and pushing all of his previous nerves out of the way.

"Louis Tomlinson, will you marry me?" 

Louis' face immediately softened, before dropping again as boos and cat calls arose from the block of seats around them.

"Fags!" Yelled one man from the back of the block, causing hoots of laughter around them. Similar homophobic slurs were shouted and thrown at them, and Louis just looked so sad, that Harry's mind was made up. He grabbed his hand and pulled him up from his seat, and he walked out of the stadium with his head hung low and a dispirited heart.

They walked out in utter silence, and as soon as Harry opened his mouth to speak, Louis cut him off. 

"Let's just go to dinner."

And that was that.

 

***

 

Louis pulled Harry's seat out with an uncertain smile, which Harry quickly returned.

"Louis, I'm so sorry-" Harry was soon cut off from his apology by Louis sighing.

"H, it's fine. You weren't to know. I appreciate the gesture honestly, just, let's not talk about it anymore."

Harry frowned, but ordered his dinner anyway, and sipped his glass of wine in silence.

Dinner was probably the most awkward affair Harry had ever experienced. They barely talked to each other, and when they did they werre tripping over each other like when they first met. It was ridiculous, they'd known each other for two years, understood the ins and outs of each other, what ticked the other off, what made the other grin like an idiot; and all it took to ruin all that were two failed marriage propsals.

By the time dessert had rolled around, Harry had made his mind up, and he was going to confront Louis once and for all. They'd decided to get a slice of chocolate cake to share - as per Louis' request - so Harry would use that to sweeten him up if it all went pear-shaped.

"Louis, I just want you to know that if and when you do propose to me, I promise I'll say yes." Louis looked at Harry with his fork suspended in mid air towards his mouth. Harry smiled. "Whether it's at a football game, or you do it in sky writing, or if it's like in one of those cheesy movies where he does that ridiculous thing of hiding it in the cake."

At that, Louis' steady growing smile dropped off his face and he glared at the slice of cake in front of him.

"It's in the cake isn't it?" Harry asked dryly. Louis just nodded. "Listen Lou-"

"No, shut up. This is my fault. It was just trying to make it perfect, do something different for a change, but I was just stupid. All I wanted to bloody say was I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you."

Harry's eyes filled with tears as he looked at Louis with adoration. God he loved this man.

"Right. No. We're doing this now." Louis dug the ring out of the cake, a thick silver band with some sort of antique-style engravings in it. Harry gaped at him.

"You what? Now?" Harry asked. "Wait wait wait." He pulled the ring already on his left ring finger off, making Louis smile and shake his head.

"You ready?" He teased

"No, wait wait." He pulled the remaining rings off of his left hand, so he could really show off his engagement ring. _He was about to get engaged._

"Now?" Louis jokingly demanded. Harry nodded, not trusting his voice to hold out without him bursting into tears. "Harry Styles, I love you. I have loved you since you brought that god-awful painting home and insisted it should be put up in our living room, because no one else would have it and you felt sorry for '[Gladys'](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CcT93ctWIAA2MPP.jpg)."

Harry laughed, nodding as he remembered Louis being too shit-scared to even walk past it, nevermind look at it. 

"I want to grow old with you, and have kids with you. Harry Styles will you marry me?"

"Yes," Harry choked out, thrusting his left hand toward his fiance _(fiance, good God)_ so he could slide the ring onto his finger.

"No one else would I try to propose to three times," Louis laughed wetly.

"Three times? When were the others?"

Louis laughed. "Remember your birthday?"

"When you got us both absolutely smashed? Not well, but slightly yes," Harry chuckled.

"I was trying to do it all night but I couldn't find the right oppurtunity."

"No big screen or cake to help you out at home is there?" Harry teased.

"Oh shut up, fiance."

"Never. Who tries to propose three times?"

"Someone dating a weirdo who won't appreciate any of their bold and unusual ideas, that's who."

Harry gaped at him, affronted. "It wasn't my fault! I didn't know you were gonna do it!"

"I'm joking love. Come on lets pay and go home, I want to see if I can wheedle that fifty quid out of Liam still," Louis grinned, gesturing to the waiter for the bill.

"What? What do you mean?"

"Never you mind H. Never you mind."

They strolled out of the restaurant with full stomachs and happy hearts, a comfortable weight on Harry's left hand making him grin and squeeze Louis'. 

They managed to get there in the end.

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed it!  
> once again, any mistakes/tags ive missed let me know  
> twitter // tumblr


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